Rev. Olaus Okerson
1883 - 1884
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Olaus Okerson was born in Norra Vram parish, Skåne, Sweden on February 12, 1836. He had been converted in 1856, was baptized November 28, 1858, and joined the Baptist Church at Broby. He preached extensively in Sweden and many souls were led to Christ in the old country. Baptists in Sweden were at that time harassed by the state church clergy, molested by hoodlums, haunted and jailed by the civil authorities. Okerson was one of many who left for America in increasingly large numbers. He was ordained to the gospel ministry in 1863. The following year in the month of May he and his family left Sweden. After seven weeks of sailing, the ship ran aground off the East Coast of Canada at Anticosti Island. A steamer picked them up from the island after two weeks and took them to Quebec. Later they traveled overland to St. Paul, Minnesota. He found some fellow Baptists and being the person he was, arranged for a prayer meeting the first evening of his arrival, expressing his great joy "again to have the opportunity of breaking the Bread of Life to hungry souls."
The first year in America was spent at Scandia, Minnesota. His language deficiency did not bother too much. English was for special occasions only. Swedish was spoken usually and was the official language of the church. He wore two hats; as a preacher on Sunday and a farmer on Monday. He loved the soil and went around helping on farms with the heavy work. Most of the men of that day had responded to military duty for Abraham Lincoln's appeal for volunteers in the Civil War. Okerson's accomplishment in the Minnesota area was considerable. He organized, and or had a share in organizing, the following churches: Grove City, Cokato, Stanchfield, Lake Elizabeth, Fergus Falls, Evansville, Minneapolis Bethlehem, Kandiyohi and the Norwegian Church in Pope County, During the years of 1865 to 1880 there were twenty-six new churches organized in Minnesota. Okerson had been instrumental in establishing one third of that number.
Under the direction of the American Baptist Home Missions Society, Okerson was sent to various fields. He was described by a contemporary as a clear thinker and a forceful, convincing speaker, with burning zeal and ceaseless activity, who considered no obstacles too difficult to over come in his efforts to reach men with the gospel. Traveling with horse and sleigh through the snowdrifts in Winter, he would stable the horse wherever the roads were impassable and proceed on his skis. The gospel message must be delivered somehow and he counted it as his special mission to open new fields and do the preparatory work for the ingathering of spiritual harvest.
In 1876 Okerson was the pastor of the church in Moline Illinois but here he stayed only ten months because the needs of the "regions beyond" were calling him.
In 1880, after fifteen years of pioneering
missionary work in Minnesota, where he was instrumental in founding nine
churches, Okerson decided to go West. He wrote a letter which appeared in
Evangelisk Fiöskrift in which he says, "I shall now direct my steps to
Oregon and shall, the Lord willing, start tomorrow. Such a journey will probably
be troublesome at this time of the year, but if the Lord is with me all will go
well, and then I hope that many of the brethren are remembering me in
prayer."
"I do expect difficulties because to travel in a newly
settled frontier through dense forest without roads, where our countrymen live
widely scattered, many of them unwilling to listen to the word of Truth does not
present itself as being easy. I hope however, that the lord has people to
save and children that need shepherding. For their sakes and my dear
Savior's sake I am undertaking the labors that are connected with the presenting
of the Bread of Life to these country men who live so far away."
"I long to announce to the captives that the
year of Jubilee has come and that they may again possess their beautiful
inheritance. May the silver trumpet sound during the coming year and be
heard throughout the land from east to West, and may many souls be made ready to
meet God, and the Bride be prepared for her Bridegroom."
He considered himself to be a
founder of churches rather than a long-term pastor. He wrote, "I
believe that God has sent me here---and now I go out to break the ground
in order that others may come after me to water and reap."
He had traveled by train from the
Midwest to California and wrote, "when we left Minnesota on December 29,
1889, the cold was severe, it took us two and one-half days to reach
Omaha." From there it took nine days by train to travel to San
Francisco. In San Francisco they spent two days to wait for a steamer to
Portland. During that time he took the opportunity to preach on a Sunday
afternoon to Scandinavians in the Swedish Methodist Church and to hear Moody and
Sankey. Then they proceeded to Portland by steamer for two days in heavy
seas. Many were sick. The third day they navigated up the Columbia
River. On January 12,
1881, he arrived in Portland by steamer from San Francisco.
"On arrival in
Portland I looked up a brother, H. Shogren, whose hospitality we enjoyed for two
days. Meanwhile I rented a house, with four small rooms, where we are how
living."
" Through out the whole journey we have clearly seen
God's fatherly guidance and watch-care and we are all well."
"I have preached part of the time in an Episcopal Chapel
and part of the time in a Baptist Church. On Sundays we have good audience
but only a few on week day evenings. At present there is no opportunity to
organize a Swedish Baptist Church, but we pray and labor and hope, and the Lord
is able to do more than we can ask or think. I am not able to give
accurate information as to the number of Scandinavians that live here, but from
my observations there must be about 500 beside a good many who live in the
surrounding country." I have found only four families, one young man
and an older lady that belong to our denomination. Most of these belong to
the American Church."
Okerson's arrival in Portland, under the sponsorship of the American Baptist Home Missions Society, marks the beginning of ordained Swedish Baptist work in the Pacific Northwest.
Okerson visited Seattle, Tacoma, The Dalles, and Spokane in the spring of 1881 on preaching journeys. Slowly, results began to show from his efforts. By 1882 the Scandinavian population had increased to about 2600 in Portland. Meeting housed had been organized in Seattle and Tacoma, and he felt that the time had come to organize for a building in Portland. In the fall of 1883, he went East to raise money for church property.
He wrote in 1884, "after that I bought a lot (on Caruthers Street) in Portland, and also an old house that I moved onto the purchased lot. (See an image of the Caruthers Street church by clicking here.) It was at this time Okerson wrote back East and requested a good brother to take up the work so he might get away to raise money in the eastern states to pay the debts on the churched in Tacoma and Portland. At this time Gustaf Liljeroth was sent to assist Okerson. Okerson gathered over two thousand dollars, went back to the West Coast, paid the debts, and had as a result, three churches in the three largest cities. Portland was really starting to grow by then (1880's). It had become the financial, business, and trade center of Oregon outranking its rivals, Oregon City and Vancouver, Washington. The Northern Pacific Railroad decided to make Portland the terminus of its line.
The original church structure was a one-story former school house, thirty by forty feet, with a wooded foundation. A low platform was built at one end and two rows of benches provided seats. The room was heated by a large wood stove in the middle aisle. Funds for the building and it's remodeling were contributed by the American Baptist Home Mission Society in 1883 and the property was located near what is today S. W. Sixth and Caruthers. In the later years, the building was used as a private residence and was razed in 1964 to make way for a service station.
Okerson returned to Temple in the spring of 1884 where he was pastor for a while. Rev. Okerson died at his home in McMinnville on August 29, 1901, after twenty years of preaching in the Northwest.
Isaiah 52:7
King James Version
Jesaja 52
Svenska
1917
Here and there in due season Rev. Okerson's pioneer efforts
brought forth fruit and today ours is but one of many churches that have
resulted from his never tiring efforts.
When looking back over Okerson's life we may say with a certainty that he saw with prophetic vision the rapid development of the Pacific Northwest cities. His main focus was to get churches started, traveling by boat, on horseback on foot and bicycle, building meeting houses at his own risk before there were any congregations. He was an imaginative, arresting preacher. He had a burning heart and a passion for souls. In a peaceful cemetery near McMinnville, you will find a granite block bearing the inscription:
"Beneath the stone lies the mortal body of a choice apostle of Jesus Christ, whose heart burned for the salvation of his countrymen, the Scandinavian pioneers of the Pacific Northwest."
Click on the following Website to see more about life in the early churches. http://www.hevanet.com/sundvall/landmarks.htm
The following is an article written by one of our earlier pastors, Rev.
Charles Asplund 1897 - 1901.
It was a memorial address delivered at the grave of Olaus
Okerson in McMinville, Oregon on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his
birth May 16, 1936.
Olaus Okerson
Rev. Olaus Okerson our Swedish
Baptist pioneer missionary, was born in Skåne, Sweden,
the 12th day of February, 1836. After many years of faithful service for
the Lord he went to be at home with the Lord, the 29th day of August, 1901, in
McMinnville, Oregon, where his remains now rest until the coming of the Lord.
I have not been able to find any record of Okerson's
ancestors, nor of his childhood. However, we find that he was converted at
the age of twenty and baptized, on his confession of of faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ, two years later, becoming a member of the Broby Baptist Church in
Sweden. At this time the Baptist in Sweden were hunted as criminals and
persecuted for their faith and doctrinal beliefs. Rev. F. O. Nilsson, at
this time, had been in exile in America about seven years.
Olaus Okerson was, as it seams, spiritually born to be a
gospel worker. Very soon after his conversion we find him in the ministry
for the Lord. testifying to his fellow-men of what the Lord had done for the
salvation of men. We know very little about his ministerial training, but
he, like many of our pioneer preachers, proved to be a true Bible student and
became a good expounder of the Word of God. He was a clear thinker and
powerful preacher with a burning zeal for the salvation of men.
Olaus Okerson was ordained to the gospel ministry in Sweden
in the year 1863. The following year he took passage on a sailing vessel
to America to take up missionary work among the Swedish immigrants, but his
vessel was wrecked on the Anticost Island.. Nevertheless, the Lord was
watching over His servant and he was rescued, like the Apostle Paul, for the
purpose of ministering unto others. After this experience he landed
in America with a deeper feeling for salvation of souls. He immediately
planned for his gospel work among the Scandinavian immigrants and began to
preach to them on the East Coast. Like Philip, the Evangelist, as he
traveled westward he preached the Word of God wherever an opportunity presented
itself, until he at last reached the West Coast with his gospel message.
Mr. Okerson did some missionary work in Illinois, Wisconsin,
Minnesota and, possibly, in Iowa. Most of his pioneer work in the middle
states was done in Minnesota, and he became Minnesota's Swedish Baptist "breakplough."
He plowed with the "gospel plough" on new field, and plowed deep to
prepare the field for great spiritual harvest, which is still, after 55 years,
bringing forth its glorious, spiritual fruit.
Rev. Okerson was a walking gospel preacher. He walked
most to the time through the woods, in snow or rain, storm or sunshine, the
weather never being too bad or the distance too far to launch out to find his
people, in order to give them the bread of life. He conveyed Christ to
men, brought many sinners to Christ, and baptized those who believed in the
Lord, preparing for church organization in many places --Stockholm, Wisconsin;
Lake City, Minnesota; Grove City, Stanchfield, Cokato, Lake Elizabeth, Fergus
Falls, Eagle Lake, Minneapolis, and other places, too numerous to be mentioned
here.
He had now prepared the field for others to come and build up
New Testament churches and carry on the gospel work on a wider area in the
growing field. New ministers arrived on the field, both from Sweden and
our Seminary in Morgan Park, and the places he had opened for church work were
well supplied. Mr. Okerson began to search for new fields for pioneer
work. As a true preacher of the Gospel cannot always go where he pleases,
but is led by the Holy Spirit, like the Apostle Paul in Asia Minor, so Olaus
Okerson looked for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. He heard a voice from
the West Coast calling him, "Come over and help us." He closed
his missionary work in Minnesota the latter part of 1880, and after seventeen
years of missionary work extending from the East Coast through the States, he
arrived after tedious traveling, at Portland, Oregon, in January, 1881.
As soon as Mr. Okerson had located himself in Portland he
inspected his new field of labor and planned for his gospel work among the
Scandinavian people. In going from house to house, visiting and inviting
the people to his home meetings, he had by this time found six Swedish Baptist
members in the American Baptist Church. These received him gladly and
became of great help in establishing a Scandinavian gospel mission in
Portland. As he now had his work organized in Portland, he made trips to
the surrounding country to investigate where his country people had colonized
themselves. He traveled on foot through the wild-woods and along faint
trails, seeking his way to the home of the people. Some time in the latter
part of January, 1881, the same year as he had arrived at Portland, he took a
steamboat about 100 miles up the Columbia River to find a few Scandinavians at
The Dalles, and preach the gospel to them.
By this time Rev. Mr. Okerson's presence and missionary plans
had become known to the Baptist Convention, which appointed him as their
missionary among the Norwegians, Danes and Swedes in Oregon and
Washington. As his field of labor had been enlarged, he began to plan for
work in Washington, and arrived in the Spring or Early Summer in Seattle to investigate
the possibilities of opening a gospel mission among the Scandinavian people
there. With his clear foresight he could see a great future for that city
and also for his mission work. He gathered at once a few people for his
services in the different homes, preaching the Gospel and baptizing the
believers. He bought a city lot and started securing subscriptions in
money, lumber and building materials. A church building was erected and
paid for before he had organized a church in the place. Later a
Scandinavian Baptist Church was organized and became a strong center for
Scandinavians, especially the Swedish people, from which many Swedish Baptist
Churches have been organized in the State.
While preaching and building in Seattle, he further
investigated the field for central places for starting Gospel Mission
Work. Thus he came to Tacoma, where he found a few Scandinavians. As
they responded to his gospel messages, he felt encouraged for more permanent
work there also. He then bought a lot and built the Church that later,
when the church organization took place, became the Scandinavian Baptist Church
of Tacoma.
Now, as he had laid a good foundation for the gospel work in
Washington, he turned back to Portland, Oregon.
The work had developed greatly both in Oregon and Washington
and the mission field became too large for one man; so he called to the East for
help. G. Liljeroth answered the call, and came and took up the work at
Seattle and the Washington field.
In Portland, where he had his home, Rev. Mr. Okerson began to
plan to establish his mission for more aggressive work. He secured a city
lot and found an old house in another locality, which he bought and moved on the
lot, rebuilding it into a meeting-house. But it was hard to shape the old
house so it would look like a church and people made jest of Okerson's
meeting-house and said, "Okerson vände kyrkan bak-fram," but he
evidently had plans to later build a front to it to make it look like a church;
he was always planning for expansion.
Now he said, "The Lord has been good to us; He has blest
our efforts in our missionary work and saved souls, and we have the three
missions going, Praise the Lord!" By this time Rev. N. Hayland had
answered the call to the Seattle Church and Rev. G. Liljeroth had taken up the
work in Portland. As there was still some debt on the church properties in
Tacoma and Portland. Mr. Okerson started east, without salary, on his own
responsibility, to collect the money needed to pay off his church debts.
He traveled through Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska Illinois, New York,
Pennsylvania and Delaware, collecting $2,000.00 and on his return paid the
church debt.
As Rev. Okerson was now without a salary to support
himself and family, the salary he had received form the Baptist Convention going
to the support of the Missionary Pastors in Seattle and Portland, he gad to find
some other way to make his livelihood. He, therefore, bought some cows and
started a dairy business in Portland. What a sacrifice for a pioneer
gospel missionary to give both his field of labor and support to other men to
take up the work where he had so faithfully labored, laying a great foundation
for a gospel success. I goes to show his meekness and missionary
spirit.
Mr. Okerson located his dairy on Mt. Zion near
Portland. As there was a winding road up to the top of that mountain and
Swedish people, who did not know of Okerson's pioneer gospel work but heard his
name mentioned as a milkman. said, "Ah, den Okerson, han gick ormens
slingrande väg upp på Berget Zion." That was part of the reward
given him by man. Even new pastors that came on the field did not like
things as they were and the churches that he had built. Their criticism
discouraged him and he became a "forgotten preacher" at the conference
meetings. But he did not lose his missionary spirit. One time when
he delivered milk to his pastor's home, he found him still in bed after eight
o'clock in the morning. He took his pastor to task and warned him that it
was not right for a missionary pastor to be so careless in his duties when there
were so many souls to be saved and a church that needed care and spiritual
edification.
Mr. Okerson's dairy business came to an end, and he moved to
McMinnville , Oregon, to start another business. But it did not prove successful
so he lost almost all he possessed, except the little home in which he
lived. He united with the American Baptist church in McMinnville of which
he was a faithful member until he united with the triumphant church in
Heaven. As there were no Scandinavian people in McMinnville and the
surrounding country, he had very little opportunity to continue his Swedish
preaching, but his soul longed to visit the Swedish field again and preach the
gospel to his own people. However, he was getting old and he had almost
walked his legs off during his pioneer work and, therefore, was not able to walk
from place to place. He wondered if he would be able to ride a bicycle; so
one day he came to me with a bicycle and wanted me to teach him to ride.
So we went out North 12th Street in Portland, but it did not take long before
both Okerson and myself were lying in the dusty street--he was to heavy for me
to hold up--and I never saw him on his bicycle again. Discouraged he said,
"My whole machinery is gone; I'll have to give up. I will go home and
rest." It proves that the spirit of missions continued to live in his
heart even though his bodily machinery was broken down. He did not live
very long after that.
It was my pleasure to meet Olaus Okerson the first time when
I came to Portland in the Spring of 1897. We associated more or less in
our homes as well as in church work. He was as a big brother to me--a man
of God--and I learned from him many things that were of great value to me in my
ministry to the Swedish Baptist church in Portland, Oregon.
At one time on a visit to his home in McMinnville, Mrs.
Okerson said to me, "I will tell you some news, Mr. Asplund. Mr.
Okerson has begun to preach in English in his old age; he preached in the
American Baptist Church in McMinnville the other Sunday when our pastor was
away, but he didn't tell me about it so I could go and hear him."
Okerson replied, "Well you always say that you do not understand an English
sermon, so I thought it of no use to tell you about it." Whereupon
she answered, "Oh yes, that is true, but when you preach in English I am
sure I understand." It was easy to know why.
Rev. Olaus Okerson was a great man of God, a true missionary
for Jesus Christ, and a grand pioneer for the Swedish Baptist denomination both
in the middle states and on the West Coast. He has laid a Gospel
Foundation for others upon which to build a structure that still stands as a
monument for his life's service to the Lord and humanity, and it has developed a
wonderful, spiritual activity that has been felt both at home and abroad.
Let us see to it that we in our time are building upon this foundation a
structure for God and humanity that will stand through eternity.
We thank God for Olaus Okerson's life and service among our
people.
Charles Asplund
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